Monday, May 2, 2016

Tuscany

Today, I am sharing the second part of our recent trip to Italy.

After four wonderful days in Rome, we took a two hour train ride to Florence. The adventure there began by rolling our luggage over narrow cobblestone streets to our hotel. We checked in and then walked to Sandwichic for the best sandwich in Florence. Since everything was written in Italian, we asked the sandwich makers what was most popular. They suggested a salami sandwich. It was yummy.

Then, we met our tour guide at the hotel. She brought us to see where the young Michelangelo had lived with the Medicis. Next, she showed us Michelangelo's Tomb of Giullano de' Medici in the Cappelle Medicee (Medici Chapel). Apparently, the wealthy used to show their means by decorating elaborate chapels used as mausoleums. This Medicis took this to an extreme.

This coat of arms of the City of Florence is one of the many beautiful mosaic pieces created from granite and marble.

The highlight of our tour was seeing his masterpiece, David, at Galleria dell'Accademia.

After all the walking in Florence, I very much enjoyed sitting down for dinner and wine in the town square. There was plenty of great people watching including someone walking a cat on a leash.

We rented a car in Florence and picked up our daughter (who has been studying in the area for the last couple of months).

My favorite part of our time in Tuscany was our day in Assisi. It is really this beautiful and peaceful.

I love this picture of my husband and daughter enjoying gelato in one of the adorable shops.

We stayed in the beautiful Brufani Palace Hotel in Perugia for one night. It was built above the ancient walls of the city of Perugia. We enjoyed shopping in little shops set up in the underground walkways of the middle ages. My daughter found this small oil painting there and chose it as a souvenir.

When we walked out at street level in the morning, there were antiques for sale in the square outside our hotel. It was amazing to walk among the treasures, with the beautiful Tuscany views as a background!

I wanted to take this pretty piece home in my suitcase, but had to settle for a photo of it with my daughter.

Unfortunately, it rained for the next two days. Here is a wet picture of the charming place we stayed at in Cortona, Relais La Corte dei Papi. The owner had converted the home his family owned for centuries into this restaurant and hotel.

In spite of the rain, each day we visited different towns in the area. This is Siena Cathedral.

I loved shopping in Arezzo. These beautiful hand painted plates came home with me.

The views while driving were amazing. I could not get over how many castles we saw.

Here are a couple of fun pics before I go. Even with the small size of most of the cars in Italy, parking is definitely snug. Can you believe that my husband parked our rental (on the right) this close to a pole without touching it!! Yes, the other car is just about as close as we are....

I took this picture when we brought our daughter grocery shopping. How cool are these disposable gloves on a roll next to the plastic bags for produce?!

I am so sorry Eilis, but I'm not getting any of your posts delivered to my inbox??? I certainly cannot blame you for wanting to take some of those beautiful antiques home! WOW! Something tells me that the shipping would be horrible...

I enjoyed your post. I've been to Rome, Assisi and Tuscany but wish we could have stayed longer in Tuscany. Thinking of another trip there possibly in the fall.Hope you will continue to post about your trip.

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